Saturday, January 11, 2014

Jerusalem's Latin patriarch hopes pope's May visit is 'cry for peace'

Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal of Jerusalem welcomed the announcement
of Pope Francis' May visit to the Holy Land and said he hopes the
pilgrimage will be a "cry for peace," particularly for Palestinians,
Israelis, Syrians and others beset by conflict.

Pope Francis announced his first trip as pontiff to the Holy Land,
May 24-26, during his weekly blessing Sunday in Vatican City. His visit
to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories is planned to mark the
50th anniversary of the historic visit by Pope Paul VI to the Holy Land
in 1964.

Pope Francis is expected to celebrate Masses in the West Bank town of
Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and the Jordanian capital, Amman, where he will
begin his trip.

Speaking to reporters in Amman on Sunday, Twal underscored that Arab
Christians are badly in need of the pope's encouragement as their
numbers continue to decrease due to violence and economic hardship.

"How great is his concern for us. And our presence, I think is one of
the aspects he will mention in his speech to ask us to be courageous
and to stay," the Jordanian-born patriarch said.

"To stay in this land, to live in this land, to die in this land: the
Holy Land is worthy to stay, to suffer and to die for," he said.

Christians throughout the Middle East represent the oldest such
community in the world.

But in their ancient homelands of Iraq, Syria,
Egypt, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, they have increasingly
become targets of intimidation and killing in the midst of civil unrest
and war.

"The visit is intended to consolidate the good relations that bind
the Muslims and Christians of these Arab countries since ancient times,
as well as contribute to intensifying calls for mutual respect and
redoubling efforts to respect for religious pluralism in an atmosphere
of love and cooperation," the patriarch said.

"We need the pope to bring peace to Jerusalem," Mary Yadi, a
Jerusalem native and parishioner at St. Joseph's Church in Amman,
expressed as her hope for the visit.

"Our world is engulfed in war and it desperately needs peace. More
prayers must be offered to see something positive happen," she said.

Fellow parishioner Sameh Girguis, an Egyptian Orthodox, said he wants
the pope to "bring God's love and stability to Arab countries,"
writhing in the aftermath of the Arab Spring upheavals that saw longtime
rulers toppled.

Another aspect of the papal pilgrimage aims to strengthen efforts
initiated by Pope Paul VI to encourage greater unity between the Western
and Eastern churches.

Pope Francis will meet Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew of Constantinople, considered first among equals by Orthodox
bishops, and the three Catholic patriarchs of Jerusalem.

He is expected as well to build on reconciliation efforts by moderate
Muslims, such as Jordan's King Abdullah II, to foster better relations
between Muslims and Christians.

Immediately after his arrival in Jordan
May 24, Pope Francis will meet privately with the king, who visited the
pontiff with his wife, Queen Rania, in August at the Vatican.

Pope Francis also will hold talks with Jordanian religious and
political leaders and celebrate an open-air Mass in an Amman stadium.

Later that evening, the pontiff will travel to the site where it is
believed that Jesus was baptized and the "place chosen by Jesus to begin
his mission," Archbishop Giorgio Lingua, apostolic nuncio to Jordan and
Iraq, told the news conference.

The place has been "significantly chosen for the pope to share dinner
with the 'least,' that is, with those living in peculiar conditions of
suffering and uncertainty," he said.

Pope Francis, who is well-known for his simplicity and humility in
the vein of his namesake, St. Francis, will dine with Syrian refugees,
the handicapped and the impoverished at the sacred site along the banks
of the Jordan River.

Lingua said the pontiff, much like Pope Paul, wanted to visit
Damascus, Syria, to walk in the footsteps of St. Paul, but he, too, will
be able "only in spirit, by heart and mind, to share the suffering of
that country."

Fr. Rifat Bader of the Catholic Media Center in Amman said Pope
Francis will travel to Bethlehem by helicopter from Amman May 25. He
will celebrate Mass in Bethlehem's Manger Square and will meet Israeli
President Shimon Peres.

Twal expressed hope that Christians from Gaza and Galilee will also be allowed to participate in the Manger Square Mass.

Samir Karadsheh, an aviation consultant visiting Amman from the
Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Grand Rapids, Mich., said he intends
to return to Jordan for the pope's May visit just as he did for that of
Pope Benedict XVI in 2009.

"I won't ask anything of the pope," he said. "Instead, I want to say, 'Thank you for bringing faith back to everyone.'"

American Jesuit Fr. Alfred J. Hicks, who has served in the Middle
East for decades, initially in Iraq and now Jordan, expressed a similar
sentiment.

"He's been sent by the Spirit to reform the church. We're very proud
of what the pope is trying to do, whether in Rome or here," he said.